Skinny is just Math.

So I thought that I would share with you all a lovely recipe that I use to create some variety in my chicken.
We all know that most pre-processed chicken nuggets and chicken strips have far too much salt and additives and sometimes the chicken is.... questionable.  However, finger-foods are fun to eat and if made properly can be a tasty HEALTHY addition to any diet. (Hold the salt and chicken 'bits' though!)


This recipe is to serve two, but can be adjusted for more (or less!)
Prep time is less than 15 minutes and cook time is about 20 minutes.

Here's what you need:

Corn Flakes
2 Chicken Breasts or 2 pkgs of fresh fast fry chicken (its pre-cut into thin strips)
One egg
Olive oil or a Pam-Like spray.
Any seasonings you would like (I will discuss further)

Whatever dipping sauce you desire (I prefer VH Sweet and Sour or Plum Sauce)

Here's what you do!

1. Preheat your oven to 375. (Make sure you take your pizza stone our or your apartment will stink like burning pizza stone -oops that was me!)
2. Put the 2 cups of corn flakes into a medium-large tupperware container that has a lid (this is key!)
3. With a potato masher, mash the heck out of the corn flakes. Now, we don't want cornflake dust, but we want them to be small bits. If you have a different and/or better way of crushing them, go right ahead.  Just make sure you have the container w/lid.
4. Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk it until well blended. 
5. Now, if you have regular chicken breasts, you will have to cut them thinner (through the middle) and then cut them into strips.  Make sure they are thin, because if they are not its going to affect your cooking time.
6. Take your strips and put them in the bowl with the egg. Make sure they all get coated on each side.
7. Grab that cooking pan, cover it with tinfoil and either wipe it with a paper towel and olive oil or spritz it with a lowfat cooking spray.
8. Get that Tupperware, because we need it now!  Take the tupperware and sift it side to side to make sure the cornflakes are covering the bottom.  Then lay each piece of egg coated chicken individually across the cornflakes on the bottom.  If you have too many chicken pieces, no problem.  We can repeat this step. 
9. Once you have all your chicken strips fit into the container, close the lid tightly (and I mean TIGHT or you're going to have a big mess!) and gently shake the container, making sure all the chicken strips get coated.
10. Remove the chicken strips from the corn flakes and Lay the chicken strips on the tinfoil.
11. Repeat steps 8-10 until all of the chicken is covered in corn flakes and is on the pan.
12. At this point your oven should be pre-heated. Put the pan in the oven (middle rack) and set the timer for 10 minutes. 
13. At the timer, remove the pan, flip the strips and replace in the oven. Set the timer for 10 minutes.


Voila! They are done!  Now, you have to check the strips, if they are a bit chunkier you are going to want to dissect one to make sure they are cooked all the way through. Keep flipping and cooking until this happens.  I personally always cut into the middle of the thickest one and if its done, I know I'm good.

I will often eat these with a tablespoon of VH sauce to dip lightly in and then fill the rest of my plate with veg. Last night, I had cesar salad. I was so full I couldn't move!

Now I personally haven't ever done this because I happen to quite enjoy the cornflake-y goodness, but I imagine that experimenting with certain spices or seasonings (for example chipotle), might make this even tastier!  Be careful though, certain seasonings contain a lot of salt and it has been said that seasonings and salt make us want to consume more food and we don't want to over eat.  However, it may be worth a try and I am looking forward to hearing about your experimentation and modification of my recipe!



1 cup Cornflakes (100 calories, 0g fat, 1g fibre, 2g protein, 24g carbs)

1 chicken breast (or equivalent) (124 calories, 1.4g fat, 26.1g protein)

1/2 egg (37 calories, 2.5g fat, 3.1g protein) - alternatively you can use two egg whites to get the job done!

2-3 second spray of Pam (24 calories, 3g fat - for 3sec) - you can use minimally, 3 seconds is more than enough!

1 tbsp of VH Sweet and Sour  (25 calories, 0g fat, 6g carbs)

So, all told (not including tasty side veg) You're looking at a 310 calorie, 6.9g of fat, 31.2g protein, 30g carbs dinner that is HOMEMADE and FRESH. Free of preservatives (mostly) and low in salt and filler. Also, since veg is like a heavenly gift from above, a healthy serving won't make a huge difference in the total at all.

For a point of reference, the Lasagna Lean Cuisine has 310 cal, 8g. fat (4 are saturated!), 41g. of carbs, 19g of protein and 4g. of fibre.  And thats without veg and as far as I'm concerned nowhere near as tasty and not as filling.  

Thats right ladies (and gentlemen!) You just made a tasty dinner, that is better for you and overall cost LESS than a Lean Cuisine.  Now lets go reward ourselves with an apple! (I totally did that!)

Alrighty, off to do something constructive!
Ciao Bellas!